Parasitism in Biological News

NC State researchers get to root of parasite genome

... at NC State, co-director of the Center for the Biology of Nematode parasitism and the corresponding author on a scientific paper describing the ... at NC State, co-director of the Center for the Biology of Nematode parasitism and a co-author of the paper. The study is published online this week in ...

ISU researchers help map first plant-parasitic nematode genome sequence

... research associate, Noureddine Hamamouch, used the current known parasitism genes to identify the full suite or predicted parasitism genes in the root-knot nematode genome. With this sequencing done, Baum ...

A bee's future as queen or worker may rest with parasitic fly

... flies may encourage worker behavior in some bees. "We often think of parasitism in terms of it affecting an animal's fitness, its survival or its ability ... look for complicated ecological relationships between different species. parasitism may encourage sociality in some situations. Here it is promoting social ...

New CU-Boulder study shows diversity decreases chances of parasitic disease

... and bubonic plague, he said. "In the absence of parasites, the toads and frogs are pure competitors," Johnson said. "But when trematode parasitism is present in the ecosystem, the adage 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' comes into play for the toads, which are essentially shielded from ...

Worm genome offers clues to evolution of parasitism

... tools, we can analyze the development, behavior and ecology of this highly unusual worm to aid in understanding the evolutionary changes that allowed parasitism to occur," says co-author Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., director of Washington University's Genome Sequencing Center. ...

Insight into the evolution of parasitism

... ecosystems on Earth. Some, as parasites, are major pathogens to humans, animals and plants. Within the group of nematodes, at least seven forms of parasitism have developed independently from one another. One member of the nematode group has acquired a certain degree of fame: due to its humble lifestyle, ...

Mice mothers devote energies to offspring when life is threatened

... findings have been published in New Scientist magazine. She writes, "Organisms are predicted to decrease investment in current reproduction when parasitism has the greatest impact on current reproductive ability." In other words, "infection in animals typically leads to responses that invest in the ...

UCR-led research team uses tiny wasp to wipe out major agricultural pest in Tahiti

... Hoddle and his colleagues released nearly 14,000 parasitic wasps at 27 sites in Tahiti between May 2005 and October 2005, resulting in rapid parasitism of glassy-winged sharpshooter eggs. By December 2005, the wasp had colonized the entire island of Tahiti, and glassy-winged sharpshooters decreased ...

Virginia Tech plant scientist leads study on genomics of parasitic plants

... point of view, we also want to gain more information about these plant species because of their unique biology. We know little about the genomics of parasitism in plants, and this study will increase our knowledge in this area. Westwood and his colleagues are studying three genera within the Orobanchaceae ...

UGA scientists engineer root-knot nematode resistance

... land. By discovering a root-knot nematode parasitism gene that's essential for the nematode to infect ... double-stranded RNA to knock out the specific parasitism gene in the nematode when it feeds on the plant roots. This knocked out the parasitism gene in the nematode and disrupted its ability to ...

Parasites' impact goes beyond host to affect ecosystem

... College undergraduate, and UNH associate professor of zoology James Byers, working at the Shoals Marine Lab off the coast of New Hampshire, looks at parasitism by the trematode Cryptocotyle lingua in Littorina littorea, a snail known as the common periwinkle and the dominant herbivore in the intertidal zone. ...

Does natural selection drive the evolution of cancer?

... a predator hunting prey, and the tumor cells that develop defenses against the predation are the ones that survive and reproduce. An example of parasitism in the tumor environment can be seen in angiogenesis, in which a subset of tumor cells send chemical signals to stimulate the host to generate new ...

Plants, too, have ways to manage freeloaders

... bacteria that are not. The finding illustrates the complex symbiotic relationships that have evolved between organisms, ranging from one-sided parasitism to mutualism, a situation in which both parties benefit. It also suggests that agricultural practices, including heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer, ...

Possible treatment found for 'chemobrain'

... it kills agricultural insect pests. Understanding its genome will increase insights into biological control, as well as into basic mechanisms of parasitism that may be applicable to parasites of humans. The zebra finch was chosen because it is a major model system for understanding brain development, ...

NHGRI Selects 13 More Organisms for Genome Sequencing

... it kills agricultural insect pests. Understanding its genome will increase insights into biological control, as well as into basic mechanisms of parasitism that may be applicable to parasites of humans. The zebra finch was chosen because it is a major model system for understanding brain development, ...

Plants respond similarly to signals from friends, enemies

... exploited by nematodes," says Dr. David Bird, associate professor of plant pathology, co-director of NC State's Center for the Biology of Nematode parasitism and co-author of the paper. "Nematodes have not only found a weak link in plants but may be using the very same bacterial machinery against it." ...